menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.868,-1.771 or 54°52'5"N 1°46'15"Wsa_postcodeDH9 9AT

 

The symbol shows the location of the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmitter which serves 700,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) mast?

Pontop Pike transmitter - Pontop Pike transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Pontop Pike transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C39 (618.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)447mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C32 (562.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C34 (578.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C35 (586.0MHz)447mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LNE
 H -13dB
C33 (570.0MHz)447mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 22nd September 2014: 7 Made in Tyne and Wear,

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Pontop Pike transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 15km northeast (42°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 12km north-northeast (29°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Kieldor DamActive deflector6 homes Holiday complex
Low HaberActive deflectorWest Allen Dale, 18 kn SW Hexham caravan site
North HartlepoolTransposer84 homes

How will the Pontop Pike (County Durham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW T
C5BBCtvwaves
C32SDN
C33com7
C34com8
C35ArqB
C39BBCA
C42D3+4
C45BBCB
C49tv_offBBCB
C50tv_offSDN
C54tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4wavesD3+4
C55tv_offArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_offLNE
C58tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBCA
C59tv_offArqA
C61ITVwavesITVwavesITVwaves
C64BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com8(-11.6dB) 34.6kW
com7(-11.7dB) 33.8kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
LNE(-20dB) 5kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Pontop Pike transmitter area

Jan 1959-Feb 2004Tyne Tees Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Pontop Pike was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Comments
Monday, 9 November 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:55 PM

Benno:

Due to a strange quirk, it may have ended up in the 800s with a few other channels. I've come across a few others with similar problems. Try retuning as follows -

Unplug the aerial and do an automatic retune. This should clear all previous tuning as no channels should be found. (If perchance you find it hasn't cleared all previous tuning you may have to do a factory reset).

Plug the aerial back in and if you can do a manual tune, do so for the correct UHF channels for Pontop Pike.
In the multiplex order PSBs1-3, COMs4-7, Local - they are C39, C42, C45, C32, C34, C35, C55, C33
Whether you actually get COM7 or the Local Multiplex will depend on your precise location.
If your set doesn't have manual tune, just do an automatic one.
Hopefully all channels will be restored correctly.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 5 December 2020
A
Alan Tate
6:48 PM

The information is not kept up to date
eg Version 5 Dated 05/12/2020

Horror channel has moved from 70 to 68, but still showing as 70

Last update looks to be 13/11/2019 over a year ago

Also a printable or PDF copy would be useful

Thanks

link to this comment
Alan Tate's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:45 PM

Alan Tate:
As has been mentioned quite a few times around this site, and probably a couple of pages back now on this transmitter page, the site owner has not had the time to update all the UHF Channel changes resulting from the 700MHz Clearance program. As I understand it, it involves transcription from a number of OFCOM pdf documents. As you might imagine, that's got to be a very time consuming and tedious task. That was last done by the site owner here with changes on the 13th November 2019. However on many transmitter pages the updated list of UHF channels resulting from the final stages of the 700MHz Clearance program has been posted on the respective pages by regular posters, the most recent here (not for the first time) by me just before your post.
As far as which channels are on which multiplex and their LCN, the last update here appears to be the 17th September Broadcaster/Freeview changes. Of late, a number of the Broadcasters and Freeview have been shunting channels about their LCNs (some requiring retunes). Most members of the public are rather brassed off with this nonsense and constant retuning and one of the most recent ridiculous ones was to meet the OFCOM requirement that all PSBs should be in the top 24 LCNs all because BBC4 in Scotland was down at 55, Freeview's option was to shunt all LCNs from 24-54 up one so BBC4 Scotland moved from 55 to 24 (for the rest of the UK it's on 9).
They ignored the simpler (more logical) option put to them which was -
Move Channel 5+1 from 44 to 55, Move Channel 4+1 from 15 to 44
Move BBC Alba from 7 to 15, Move BBC Scotland from 9 to 7, then Move BBC Four (Scotland) to 9 matching the rest of the UK.
How nice and logical, ITV+1 on 33 - has been for years, people used to it. Then Channel 4+1 on 44, Channel5+1 on 55, all nice memorable easy to remember numbers, AND 4Seven would still be on 47 not 48 as now.
That's all too much common sense for Freeview.
All these changes require the site owner to spend (waste IMHO) time transcribing from pdf documents or Freeview web pages. He does have a job to do besides providing this help-site for free.
Not sure where your "version 5" comes from, but generally, if you want an up-to-date list (I have found it several days out of date on occasion) of which channels are on which multiplex and their LCNs see Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview which was last updated on the 4th November. There have however been some further changes (mostly minor) on the12th &19th November and some to come on the 7th December. See
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
Updates and alerts | Freeview
As far as printable or pdf options are concerned, most browsers have a "Print" option and there's a choice of software if you want to "print" to a pdf eg. there's one called PDF Creator (I'm sure a search will find many more).


link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 3 February 2021
D
David Lewis
6:36 PM
Stockton-on-tees

I have a wideband aerial looking towards Bilsdale across my roof. When first erected we had few problems. However, my neighbours conifer trees are in direct line with Bilsdale and as they have grown we have experienced increasing pixelation on some multiplexes. Now in wet weather BBC1 SD is starting to be affected. I could erect a taller mast, but the tree's growth show no signs of stopping.

The signal strength maps show that I should be able to receive Pontop Pike. I would simply swing the aerial around almost 180 degrees, but will the same aerial work?

link to this comment
David Lewis's 1 post GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:48 PM

David Lewis: Unless you're only receiving a weak signal a wideband aerial is suitable for reception of any transmitter, as it is literally designed pick up the entire width of the UHF band.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:36 PM

David Lewis:

Which way is your neighbour's aerial pointing? Are his trees on his line of sight?
Maybe he's having similar problems and not realised why and might get the trees trimmed if he knew.

If you provide a full postcode we can compare the predicted reception at your locale, from each transmitter.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 24 February 2021
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:09 AM

Mr Brian JE Teasdale: Sony Channel and Sony Movies Classic are both carried on the local TV multiplex, which is only available in areas with a local TV station on Freeview channel 7 or 8. There is a local mux broadcast from Pontop Pike, however I believe it is directional towards Newcasle and may not provide a strong signal in other directions.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Friday, 12 March 2021
I
Ian Carrick
12:06 PM

Hi,

Configuring something called TVHeadEnd linked to an HDHomeRun for the Pontop Pike transponders. Wondering if you can help with some settings. So these are my transponders which I believe are correct:

1=618000
2=642000,
3=666000
4=562000
5=578000
6=586000
7=746000
8=754000
9=570000

What I think I need for each of these is the settings below (a to h). In brackets I have listed out the choices I have, separated by commas.

a. Bandwidth (10Mhz, 8Mhz, 7Mhz, 6Mhz, 5Mhz or 1.712Mhz)
b. Constellation (QAM/AUTO, QPSK, QAM/16, QAM/64, QAM/256)
c. Transmission mode (32k, 16k, 8k, 2k, 1k)
d. Guard Interval (1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/128, 19/128, 19/256)
e. Hierarchy (NONE, 1, 2, 4)
f. FEC High (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 3/5, 4/5, 5/6, 7/8)
g. FEC Low (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 3/5, 4/5, 5/6, 7/8)
h. PLP ID (free text defaults to -1)

Any help with some of the above (realise that some of those settings might not make sense) is hugely appreciated, you helped me out a while ago to get those transponders correct for DVBLink. Cheers.

link to this comment
Ian Carrick's 2 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:52 PM

Ian Carrick:

The frequencies you've listed are correct BUT no:8 754000kHz (COM8) is no longer being transmitted, it was closed at the end of June 2020 for commercial reasons.
If you see my post on Monday, 9 November 2020 (at the top of p111 here) you'll see all the correct UHF channels listed for Pontop Pike. If you hover over each of the C numbers it gives the frequency.
Bandwidth is always 8MHz.

For the rest of the information, rather than me laboriously listing them, you'll probably be best putting your postcode in the box at Platform management | Freeview and then hover your mouse over the relevant channel numbers and it give you the transmission modes and powers.

link to this comment
Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.